All articles tagged: design

What is the right number of direct reports for any incoming C-level executive? A new diagnostic tool can provide the answer, based on each leader’s situation and strategy.

Scrambling to shift scant resources in order to meet deadlines can have a chaotic ripple effect.

Regulatory reform and IT advances are accelerating the “clockspeed” in healthcare. To compete, insurers will need to focus on three key areas.

Global drug companies are facing disruption. One powerful strategic response is to rethink their manufacturing and operations footprints.

The Ecology of Technology

Asking the Right Questions

Emulating the methods used to transform production quality could clean up the Internet — and might even pay for itself.

As the ability to gather sophisticated data grows, here’s a four-step process for making segmentation drive improved performance.

Both incentives and training are needed to spur innovation.

Theodore Kinni, coauthor of Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, introduces a lesson in creating product-based customer experiences from The Method Method: 7 Obsessions That Helped Our Scrappy Start-Up Turn an Industry Upside Down, by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, with Lucas Conley.

Three types of companies are jockeying for position in emerging economies, seeking to capture the loyalty of billions of new consumers.

Rapid advances in manufacturing technology point the way toward a decentralized, more customer-centric “maker” culture. Here are the changes to consider before this innovation takes hold.

A new study shows how the decisions made today by goods producers and policymakers will shape U.S. competitiveness tomorrow.

As nations seek to expand services more cost-effectively, the stakeholders who pay the bills and provide the care must collaborate.

Market anomalies and incongruities may point the way to your next breakthrough strategy.

All too often, companies unintentionally create their own worst crises. With a little awareness of your organizational DNA, you can avoid that fate — and the headlines that go with it.

Combining agile up-front processes with a lean approach to the back end can help companies outperform the competition.

To escape the commodity trap — and to compete effectively in a knowledge-based economy — business leaders of all kinds need to reinvent themselves as innovators in services.

Retail banks can use Facebook, YouTube, and other new platforms to better reach their “Generation C” customers.

Start by choosing the metrics that matter most for your company, and then ensure the support of your employees and partners.

To build your capabilities and cast a wider net for ideas, you must figure out which of the three types of innovation strategies you already have — and design your R&D approach accordingly.

Historian Elin Whitney-Smith looks at previous periods of disruption to understand what companies (and people) are going through today.

Effectively managing service operations is crucial to controlling labor costs and improving customer satisfaction. By addressing six drivers of performance, executives can go a step further — turning their service operations into a key source of competitive advantage.

A hasty, large-scale movement away from nuclear power would not resolve most of the issues raised by the ongoing crisis in Japan. Instead, we need more thoughtful discussions now about the energy systems of the future.